MOSCOW: Loud calls grew in Russia on Tuesday for the cancellation of Lokomotiv Moscow's upcoming away match in the country's freezing Far East to protect the health of national squad players.
Lokomotiv, the league leaders, are due to cross eight timezones to play last-place SKA Khabarovsk in the their 15,200-seat Lenin Stadium on Monday.
Khabarovsk's first promotion to top flight Russian football has given an unexpected headache to the bigger clubs just as the nation prepares to host the World Cup on June 14-July 15.
The Russian squad is made up almost entirely of domestic players and at least four are expected to come from Lokomotiv.
Igor Lebedev, a top lawmaker who also sits on the Russian Football Union's executive committee, said forcing teams to travel to the other side of the world's largest country and play in Artic weather was "a travesty".
"The upcoming SKA Khabarovsk match against Lokomotiv will be a travesty for all of Russian football," Lebedev told the Chempionat.com sports news site.
"It abuses players and fans to an even greater extent."
His comments came after CSKA Moscow -- last season's Russian Premier League runners-up -- played in Khabarovsk last Saturday in temperatures hovering around -15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit).
"We have to remember that Lokomotiv and CSKA Moscow represent our country in European cups, and they comprise a large part of our national squad," said Lebedev.
"You cannot come out on the pitch in such weather."
The Premier League said in a statement that it was monitoring weather conditions but not expecting temperatures to be any colder than they were at the CSKA Moscow match.
'Choking spells'
UEFA, the governing body of European football, allows, but does not require, referees to call off a match if temperatures drop to below -15 Celsius at kickoff.
SKA Khabarovsk's Argentine halfback Alejandro Barbaro said playing in the Russian winter was a somewhat shocking experience.
"It was not easy -- not in the least bit," he told Russia's main football channel.
"In the last 10 minutes of the match, I could not feel my arms or legs," Barbaro admitted.
Eduard Bezuglov, the Russian national team doctor, said players who were forced out on the pitch in such conditions risked coming down with bronchitis and "choking spells".
"Games played at -15 or -20 Celsius may no longer be called football," Bezuglov told the Sport Express paper ahead of the CSKA Moscow match.
"It is an entirely different sport."
The Russian Premier League takes a three-month winter break starting in December.